What makes a good party?

Thinking about on-line social networking, Frank used a very good analogy the other day: it’s like hosting a party – you can create a space for people to get together, let people know about it but then you just have to hope they turn up and have a good time. But what constitutes a good time? Getting dressed up? Meeting new interesting people? Dancing til your feet hurt? In the real world things like alcohol, cool lighting effects, great music help create ‘atmosphere’ – but what is that really? For me the best parties feel like you’ve stepped into a different world, to take part in a random unscripted event which will hopefully leave everyone with something to smile about. Fun things to do seem to be a key ingredient – last night the area around the Royal Festival Hall seemed to turn itself in to an urban Burning Man Festival…

The Hayward Gallery had a geodesic dome you could bounce around in, a colourful maze and a roof top boating lake which people were queuing for over an hour for – it seems we are really very keen to experience things out of context – even if the boats are small and cramped and look likely to capsize at any moment.

Outside the Hall there was a stunning music and light installation controlled by the people walking around it, then in Elisabeth Hall there was the silent disco. Two live DJs performed parallel sets while clubbers wore wireless headphones – choosing between the DJs on two separate channels. With headphones on, volume adjusted to your own taste, you had your own private disco to enjoy – with headphones off you got to witness the strange sight of hundreds of people dancing along to the silence – the contrasting dance styles inspired by Rage Against the Machine and Gloria Gaynor making it all the more surreal. Ah the novelty of it all!

So Frank when you get back off holiday if we can just recreate all that on our members pages that would be cool. Thanks. 😉